Fourcade Makes French Olympic History In Mad Dash To The Line

Pyeongchang, South Korea, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Feb, 2018 ) :Martin Fourcade wrote himself into the French history books with a second biathlon gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics on Sunday, snatching victory by a whisker in a dramatic photo finish.

The 29-year-old also won the pursuit title on Monday to add to his two golds at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and with his tally of four now holds the record for the most Winter Olympic golds won by a Frenchman.

Fourcade triumphed in the 15km mass start in the most thrilling of fashions. He thought that he had lost to Germany's Simon Schempp after the two men battled towards the line in a lung-bursting sprint for glory.

They sprawled across the finish and Fourcade slammed his ski stick into the snow and shook his head in frustration, clearly thinking he had lost. But anguish switched to delight when the photo finish gave him the gold despite clocking both their times at 35min 47.3sec.

Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen claimed the bronze a distant 11.2sec adrift. "It's incredible, I can't answer, I'm still waiting for them to tell me that I'm not the winner," said a disbelieving Fourcade.

"I finished second in the mass start in Vancouver (2010), four years ago in Sochi I was fighting for the gold with Emil (Hegle Svendsen) and I lost by less than three centimetres. "And I thought about that during the whole last loop because I thought this would happen again.

And when I saw the line, I had a deep feeling that I'd lost. "For now it's not real yet." French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted his fulsome praise, calling Fourcade "a legend of the Winter Olympics and the biathlon" and posting a picture of the photo finish.

Fourcade takes the golden mantle from French alpine skier Jean-Claude Killy, who won three gold at the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble. "It means a lot because today I'm the best French Winter Olympian and that means a lot to me because I'm a big fan of sport and I grew up watching the Olympics on tv," said Fourcade, as the enormity of his achievement finally began to set in.

"So to be the best French athlete at the Olympics is not something I was fighting for, but I'm so proud of."